José “Pepe” Mujica no le hallaba mucha utilidad a la residencia presidencial uruguaya de tres pisos, con sus lámparas de araña, su ascensor, su escalera de mármol y sus muebles Luis XV. “Es una porquería”, me dijo el año pasado. “Sería bueno para …

José “Pepe” Mujica did not have much use for Uruguay’s three-story presidential residence, with its chandeliers, elevator, marble staircase and Louis XV furniture. “It’s crap,” he told me last year. “They should make it a high school.” So when he …

Serving from 2010 to 2015, he refused to accept a presidential salary or live on a presidential estate as he sought to improve the lives of ordinary citizens.